“If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you. Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”

What it isn’t

Following your bliss doesn’t mean….

Because you like watching Netflix that you become a movie critic.

You love running you and so you become a professional athlete.

Also it often isn’t just one thing for the rest of your life.

It isn’t static.

It will evolve.

What do others say?

So how do you discover your passionate purpose? Here are a few clues.

Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg has followed his bliss and his contribution to the world is there for all to see with Jaws, ET and Jurassic Park just some of his creations.

This is what he had to say about following your bliss and discovering your dream.

“When you have a dream, it doesn’t often come at you screaming. This is who you are. This is what you must be for the rest of your life. The hardest thing to listen to, your instincts, your personal intuition. It’s very hard to hear”

Persist

Showing up every day is a pre-requisite. Persistence and playing the long game is key.

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year but underestimate what they can do in 10 years” – Bill Gates

The only way to build a house? One brick at a time.

The only way to write a book? One word at a time.

Stephen King was asked “How do you write?”

“One word at a time,” and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That’s all. One stone at a time.

At first your creation will be imperfect and malformed. Doubts will creep in.

But it all starts with a rough draft. A simple sketch. An outline.

As you create, add and edit the masterpiece slowly emerges. Both addition and deletion will be required to burnish your creation.

The polishing comes later.

Show up every day

So take one step every day.

Show up and start.

You will not create a masterpiece every day. Your creation at first will appear ordinary.

But if you follow the process you will surprise yourself and the world as your genius emerges from the habit and a daily routine.

Don’t buy into the genius myth that has stopped so many of us from manifesting our gifts to the world.

So….

Fall in love with the process and achieving your life’s purpose will evolve.

Makes his bed – It keeps you grounded. He met a Hindu priest and speaker named Dandapani who told him that a way to help bring grounding into his life was to start off his day by making his bed.

Meditates for 20 minutes – He uses a technique called Transcendental Meditation

Drinks some strong tea – His combo is pu-erh aged black tea, green tea, and turmeric and ginger shavings. He adds hot water and lets it steep for one to two minutes. Then, in his mug, he’ll add one to two tablespoons of coconut oil or Quest MCT Oil Powder for a dose of medium-chain triglycerides, which some studies have shown to be linked to promoting fat burning.

Journals for 5-10 minutes – He alternates between a 5 minute journal and a Morning pages exercise.

Has a small breakfast – He often has half a can of Amy’s black bean chili, a low fat chili that’s high in fiber and protein

Exercises for 20-90 minutes – Varies between a peloton bike and a 20 minute high intensity interval training workout.

For Tim he knows that the daily routine can change your emotions rather than letting emotions control your day.

Twalya Tharp

Twyla is a world famous choreographer. Her creations are dance.

How does she start her day?

In her book “The Creative Habit” she outlines her rituals of preparation for each work day.

This is what works for her.

She rises at 5.30 am

Dresses in her workout clothes.

Walks outside her Manhattan home and hails a taxi.

Tells the driver to go to the Pumping Iron Gym where she works out for 2 hours.

What’s the most important part of this routine for Twayla?

That ritual is the cab.

That is the trigger and the first step where she is committed to the gym habit.

She knows that the first steps are hard.

That ritual leads to the routine.

Then the rest of the day is set up for success.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs kept life simple and eliminated distractions where he could.

His morning routine as disclosed in Inc.com revealed that each day he would get up, make his bed, shower and then look at himself in the mirror and ask this question.

“If today was the was the last day of my life, would I be happy with what I’m about to do today?”

If he discovered that the answer was “no” too many days in a row he knew that something needed to change.

Brian Tracy

Brian is the author of many books and is known for being highly productive.

Brian is also the author of the best selling book, “Eat That Frog“, which get’s its title from that famous Mark Twain saying “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day“.

The practical essence of applying that quote to your morning routine is a habit of getting one important thing done before opening your emails.

And we all know that once you open your first email that your ability to get important things done starts sliding into oblivion.

What works for me?

Routines are your creation.

You need to find out what works for your metabolism and feeds your soul and mind.

But by reflecting on what works for others you gain a glimpse into the elements that you may adapt, copy or ignore.

This is not prescriptive but a journey in self discovery.

Rise at 6am but it used to be 4.30 am. But this changed due to life circumstances evolving. It will change again.

Drink a glass of water with 2 table spoons of Apple Cider Vinegar with “The Mother”.

Make a coffee and tea – Coffee to start and Lemon and Ginger Tea to follow while reading

Be grateful – I use the 5 Minute Journal app

Read an inspirational book.

Meditate for 10 minutes – Currently using the “Calm” app

Commit to spending an hour or two to creating something that feeds your soul. For me that is writing. That is where I am able to perform deep work.

Breakfast – Bircher Muesli with almond milk and berries and yoghurt

Get one priority and important task done before opening emails

Now you may have noticed that exercise is not in my morning routine. I have tried to weave it into how I start my day but it just didn’t work. But I do exercise 3-5 times a week but later in the day or after work.

The most important thing for me with exercise is to do something you love and is convenient and easy. You may be an early morning person, so do it then. For me afternoon is best.

But my biggest challenge in the process? Stopping myself being distracted by the trivial tasks that stop me getting the important things done..

Finding a morning success routine has been a game changer for me.

It’s transformed my life.

And you may discover that it will take you from ordinary to extraordinary.

4. Embrace the life skill of creating deep work every day

For many of us we define ourselves from our careers, our jobs and even out families.

At the age of 65 we are usually asked to hang up the tools, hand in the computer and the mobile phone.

And fade into the sunset.

But they are all a narrow definition of who we are.

But a solution tho this to set aside time and create a life skill and habit of creating around the passion and skills that you have developed and love.

That’s your real purpose.

That is a life skill that many of us ignore as the busyness of life consumes us.

Because “that” craved for career can also be destroyed by a corporate takeover or the cruel game of office politics. A job for life is being replaced by a 12 month contract or the freelancer.

But in a world that is in the majority a knowledge economy, the opportunities to reach the world that is thirsting for your experience and expertise and get paid for it is now needed. Becoming a freelancer or entrepreneur is becoming a solution.

Now I can hear you saying……“I have a day job and don’t have the time”. A day job is just 8 hours…..the raw reality? There are another sixteen hours available.

Arnold Bennett highlighted this in a small 33-page book “How to Live on 24 Hours a Day” (written over a hundred years ago). He encouraged us to live a day within a day that can take us from ordinary to extraordinary.

Many of us go to work and come home and engage in trivial activities. This includes television, reading a glossy magazine, sending text messages or even playing with Snapchat.

Investing in your own creation, production and distribution of your experience, expertise and passion while holding down a day job can transform your life.

How do I know?

That is what happened to me when I stumbled into a social web that offered a promise of freedom to create and reach the world one word at a time.

But there is a solution to that nagging question. It doesn’t matter if you are a knowledge worker within the corporate machine, an entrepreneur or a creative.

An approach

According to Cal Newport there are several options to doing “Deep Work”. It is not one size fits all. It depends on how you like working and living and also depends on your particular life circumstance.

Monastic Approach: Cutting yourself off from the world to focus and remove distraction.

Bi-Modal Approach: This is where you may work and perform the day-to-day work in one location and do your deep work at another. You then dive in and out of each space.

Journalist Approach: This is an approach where you seize the opportunity to perform “Deep Work” at random as time and your schedule allows.

Rhythmic Approach: This where you set apart a certain time of day to create and block it out every day and commit to that ritual.

These are not the only ways to create “Deep Work” but they provide some ideas for a habit that could change your life.

The habit

In 2009 I started my blog and my approach was more like a journalist. I often created late at night but also on weekends. But as the journey continued the ritual changed to a rhythmic habit.

I rose early at 4.30am for 5 days a week and turned off all email, social networks and other distractions. The ritual included making a coffee, a mug of lemon and ginger tea and sitting down and strapping myself in.

I researched, wrote and published. The last step was pushing that content out to the waiting world.

When you do that one day at a time for 4 years then things start to happen. A passion project became a serious business. Done part time before most people were awake.

That habit was an investment in me. But when I started I didn’t understand its far reaching consequences.

The power of validation

In 1998 a journalist David Isay decided to capture the stories of ordinary people. He visited the flop houses of New York and sat down with men that had been living and surviving for decades in run down buildings.

After publishing their interviews he went back and showed them their one page stories in print. One man on seeing his name in black and white, seized the book out of David’s hand and ran down the corridor and shouted “I exist…..I exist……I exist!”

These men had to wait for someone else to discover them……to share their story with the world. The visibility had also provided a validation. It is something we as humans crave.

To be acknowledged is a powerful thing.

Choose to be discovered

But on today’s social and mobile web we don’t have to wait for discovery or for permission.

We can create, publish and showcase our own existence without waiting for permission or to be “discovered”

We can choose to start something of consequence. We can choose to create. When you start sharing that with the planet, the magic of that distillation of your thoughts and genius is a place to grow and to be validated.

The social web with its platforms and networks is a feedback loop that will give you the feedback you need to evolve and grow.

I pose a new mantra. “I create, I publish, I exist”

Block out your time for “your” creation

So plan your day for making sure you have focused creative space. Block out time for “deep work”. Don’t make success an accident. Design your life, share your expertise, experience and passion.

We all have the opportunity to be craftsmen. To be creators and producers of content and media that belongs to you and not the corporation.

The habit of doing the “deep work” is not just about productivity. It goes much deeper than that.

It is a place where your learning goes to a new level one day at a time. Blocking out some hours for you. For your work. But……don’t keep your creation hidden from the world. Share it. That is where the magic happens.

It will fill the hole that gnaws at you every day if that opportunity to create in concentration is ignored.

Soul food

You will feel a sense of accomplishment as a work that started as raw and rough becomes a piece of art that is yours. It will feed your soul.

That’s your life, your work and your creation.

You will look back in a year and wonder why you didn’t start the habit earlier.

But you must commit to making it happen and to investing in yourself. Responding to other people’s emails and attending meetings is not investing in your work.

It is just busyness.

One of the biggest challenges in life can be the habits that trap us in mediocrity and stop us growing and moving forward.

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About Jeff Bullas

He is the owner of jeffbullas.com. Forbes calls him a top influencer of Chief Marketing Officers and the world's top social marketing talent. Entrepreneur lists him among 50 online marketing influencers to watch. Inc.com has him on the list of 20 digital marketing experts to follow on Twitter. Oanalytica named him #1 Global Content Marketing Influencer. BizHUMM ranks him as the world's #1 business blogger. Learn More